The effect of endogenous mRNA levels on co-suppression in tomato

AbstractIntroduction of truncated polygalacturonase (PG) transgenes into tomato plants caused the production of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and co-suppression of both the endogenous and PG transgenes in ripening fruits by post-transcriptional gene silencing. In order to test the possible effect on co-suppression of the endogenous PG mRNA level, we transferred the PG transgenes from a PG-silenced line (wild type background) by crossing to two ripening regulatory mutants with reduced PG: Never-ripe (Nr, ∼10% endogenous PG mRNA compared to wild type) and ripening-inhibitor (rin, ∼1% endogenous PG mRNA) and to wild type (as a control). The PG transgenes caused strong co-suppression of the transgenes and the endogenous PG gene in cells with high PG mRNA background (wild type) and silencing appeared to be linked with higher transgene copy number and/or a particular transgene locus. In cells with low endogenous PG mRNA accumulation (Nr), the endogenous PG gene was preferentially suppressed compared to the transgenes, whose expression was not reduced significantly. The expression of the transgenes was also not reduced in the very low PG background (rin), in which endogenous PG was barely detectable. In all the analysed lines with all three PG background levels, siRNAs accumulated in leaves and green fruits, in which the endogenous PG gene is not transcribed. The relatively abundant production of siRNAs in most of the lines was linked with a particular transgene insert. These results suggest that a certain threshold level of endogenous PG mRNA is required for the co-suppression of the truncated PG transgenes and the endogenous PG gene or for extensive silencing of the transgenes

An inventory of invasive alien species in China

Invasive alien species (IAS) are a major global challenge requiring urgent action, and the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity (2011–2020) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) includes a target on the issue. Meeting the target requires an understanding of invasion patterns. However, national or regional analyses of invasions are limited to developed countries. We identified 488 IAS in China’s terrestrial habitats, inland waters and marine ecosystems based on available literature and field work, including 171 animals, 265 plants, 26 fungi, 3 protists, 11 procaryots, and 12 viruses. Terrestrial plants account for 51.6% of the total number of IAS, and terrestrial invertebrates (104 species) for 21.3%. Of the total numbers, 67.9% of plant IAS and 34.8% of animal IAS were introduced intentionally. All other taxa were introduced unintentionally despite very few animal and plant species that invaded naturally. In terms of habitats, 64.3% of IAS occur on farmlands, 13.9% in forests, 8.4% in marine ecosystems, 7.3% in inland waters, and 6.1% in residential areas. Half of all IAS (51.1%) originate from North and South America, 18.3% from Europe, 17.3% from Asia not including China, 7.2% from Africa, 1.8% from Oceania, and the origin of the remaining 4.3% IAS is unknown. The distribution of IAS can be divided into three zones. Most IAS are distributed in coastal provinces and the Yunnan province; provinces in Middle China have fewer IAS, and most provinces in West China have the least number of IAS. Sites where IAS were first detected are mainly distributed in the coastal region, the Yunnan Province and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The number of newly emerged IAS has been increasing since 1850. The cumulative number of firstly detected IAS grew exponentially

In vitro anticancer activity of acetylshikonin action against cervical cancer

Cervical cancer is a malignant neoplasm and is the second commonest cancer in women worldwide. Despite the availability of various treatment modalities, the 5-year survival remains poor. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to explore drugs capable of preventing and treating cervical cancer. Plant-derived natural products are widely used as adjunct to chemotherapy for this type of cancer. Our study aims to investigate the effects of acetylshikonin, an acetyl derivative, isolated from a Chinese medicinal herb Lithospermum erythrorhizon Sieb. et Zucc., a folk medicine with a long history of safe use for clinically treating cervical cancer in China. MTT assay was used to determine the in vitro anticancer effects of acetylshikonin on human cervical cancer Siha cells. The expression of caspase-3 and -8 proteins were determined. Flow cytometry and quantitative RT-PCR were performed to detect the expression level of Siha cells associated markers and regulatory genes. In Siha cell lines, acetylshikonin inhibited cell growth in a dose-dependent manner. The preferential expression of Siha cells related marker, regulatory genes were also highlighted. It arrested the cell cycle by blocking transition from S phase to G2/M phase and induced apoptosis of Siha cell through activating caspase-3 and caspase-8. In the current study, acetylshikonin can be taken as a promising natural lead for cervical cancer

The Recovery of the Waste Cigarette Butts for N-Doped Carbon Anode in Lithium Ion Battery

As one of the common life garbages, about 4.5 trillion waste cigarette butts are produced and randomly discarded every year due to the addiction to the nicotine and the need of the social intercourse. Such a treatment would result in the waste of the resources and the environmental pollution if they weren't reasonably recycled in time. Herein, the waste cigarette butts were recycled in form of N-doped carbon powders with high economic value-added via one-step facile carbonization at 800°C for 2 h in the inert N2 atmosphere. The waste-cigarette-butts-derived black carbon powders were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), N2 adsorption/desorption, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Furthermore, the corresponding electrochemical performances as the anode in lithium ion battery (LIB) were also investigated by galvanostatic charge/discharge, cyclic voltammetry (CV), and alternating current (AC) impedance. The results suggested that the recycled N-doped waste cigarette butts carbon (WCBC) powders consisted of major carbon and minor residual N-containing and O-containing functional groups, and the corresponding specific surface area was about 1,285 m2·g−1. Furthermore, the reversible specific discharge capacity was about 528 mAh·g−1 for 100 cycles at 25 mA·g−1 and about 151 mAh·g−1 even at 2,000 mA·g−1 for 2,500 cycles. Additionally, full cell performances were also satisfactory, indicating high feasibility. N-doping effect (such as additional active sites and higher electronic conductivity) and the residual O-containing functional groups may be responsible for the satisfactory electrochemical performances, which offered good inspiration and strategy to develop the green energy and circular economy

Characterization of volatile aroma compounds after in-vial cooking of foxtail millet porridge with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Foxtail millet has become popular over recent years for its nutritional value and ecological functions. The aroma of foxtail millet is not well characterized, which is critical for its eating quality and understanding the biochemistry and genetics of aroma is important for molecular breeding of millets rich in aroma. In this study, the volatile aroma compounds of the elite millet variety Jingu 21 were investigated at different cooking times, pH, processing methods, and compared with 3 other varieties. An in-vial cooking method was developed which combined solid phase micro-extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for the detection and identification of volatile compounds. The main findings were: a) Twelve aroma compounds were identified during cooking, which were hexanal, heptanal, octanal, (E)-2-heptenal, nonanal, trans-2-octenal, trans-2-nonenal, 2,4-nonadienal, (E,E)-2,4-decadienal, 1-octen-3-ol, 2-pentylfuran and 6-methyl-5- hepten-2-one. b) Longer cooking times produced higher concentrations of aroma compounds. c) Variations in cooking pH (from 6 to 8) had no obvious impact on the aroma of the millet porridge. d) More volatile compounds were released from millet flour compared to millet grain. e) There were significant differences among varieties and Jingu 21 millet showed the highest abundance of most aroma compounds, explaining partly why it is strongly favored by consumers for decades

Investigation Into the Predictive Potential of Three-Dimensional Ultrasonographic Placental Volume and Vascular Indices in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

BackgroundThe use of ultrasonography in pregnancies complicated with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) can vary according to clinical practice. This study aims to compare the changes of placental volume (PV) and vascular indices measured by three-dimensional (3D) Power Doppler between pregnant women with and without GDM.Materials and MethodsThis was a prospective study of singleton pregnancies who took the early nuchal translucency examination from January 2018 to September 2019. Data on PV and vascular indices including vascularization index (VI), flow index (FI), and vascularization flow index (VFI) between pregnant women with and without GDM were measured by 3D Power Doppler ultrasound machine. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression determined the association between risk factors and GDM. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and area under the ROC curve (AUC) were applied to evaluate the diagnostic value of different parameters for GDM.ResultsOf the 141 pregnant women enrolled, 35 developed GDM and 106 did not. The maternal age and gravida in the GDM group were significantly higher than that in the non-GDM group. The PV, VI, FI, and VFI in the GDM group were significantly lower than that in the non-GDM group. There were no significant differences in other clinical parameters between the two groups. After adjustments in multivariate logistic regression analysis, significant differences were observed in VI [odds ratio (OR) = 0.98, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.951–1.002], FI (OR = 0.93, 955 CI: 0.86–1.00), and VFI (OR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.52–0.87). ROC analysis indicated that the combination of maternal age, gravida, PV, and VFI was more accurate as a marker for detecting GDM than the PV, VI, FI, or VFI alone.ConclusionsThe 3D ultrasonography results suggest that PV and vascular indices (VI, FI, and VFI) during the first trimester may serve as potential markers for GDM diagnosis. The combination of maternal age, gravida, and sonographic markers may have good diagnostic values for GDM, which should be confirmed by further investigations

The Mechanism of (R,R) ZX-5 on Increasing NO Release

(R,R) ZX-5 has been proven to have positive effects on choroidal blood flow without affecting the sclera and ciliary bodies in New Zealand white rabbits. This study was designed to investigate the mechanisms of (R,R) ZX-5 on improving the choroidal blood flow and promoting NO production. HUVECs (human umbilical vein endothelial cells) were used to determine the production of eNOS, p-eNOS, AKT and Erk1/2 by Western blot analysis. iNOS and eNOS mRNA levels were investigated by RT-PCR and the effect of (R,R) ZX-5 on NO production were determined by eNOS activity assay. We found (R,R) ZX-5 upregulated protein expression of eNOS and iNOS, increased NO production, and reduced ERK and Akt protein level. Therefore, (R,R) ZX-5 may promote the choroidal blood flow in New Zealand white rabbits without affecting the blood flow in the iris or ciliary bodies via increasing NO production. These results suggest that (R,R) ZX-5 may function to cure and prevent Age-related macular degeneration (AMD)

Genome-wide identification of new reference genes for RT-qPCR normalization in CGMMV-infected Lagenaria siceraria

Lagenaria siceraria is an economically important cucurbitaceous crop, but suitable reference genes (RGs) to use when the plants are infected by cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) have not been determined. Sixteen candidate RGs of both leaf and fruit and 18 candidate RGs mostly from separate RNA-Seq datasets of bottle gourd leaf or fruit were screened and assessed by RT-qPCR. The expression stability of these genes was determined and ranked using geNorm, NormFinder, BestKeeper and RefFinder. Comprehensive analysis resulted in the selection of LsCYP, LsH3, and LsTBP as the optimal RGs for bottle gourd leaves, and LsP4H, LsADP, and LsTBP for fruits. LsWD, LsGAPDH, and LsH3 were optimal for use in both leaves and fruits under the infection of CGMMV. Isopentenyl transferase (IPT) and DNA-directed RNA polymerase (DdRP) were used to validate the applicability of the most stable identified RGs from bottle gourd in response to CGMMV. All the candidate RGs performed in RT-qPCR consistently with the data from the transcriptome database. The results demonstrated that LsWD, LsGAPDH and LsH3 were the most suitable internal RGs for the leaf, and LsH3, LsGAPDH, LsP4H and LsCYP for the fruit

Production Scheduling Requirements to Smart Manufacturing

The production scheduling has attracted a lot of researchers for many years, however most of the approaches are not targeted to deal with real manufacturing environments, and those that are, are very particular for the case study. It is crucial to consider important features related with the factories, such as products and machines characteristics and unexpected disturbances, but also information such as when the parts arrive to the factory and when should be delivered. So, the purpose of this paper is to identify some important characteristics that have been considered independently in a lot of studies and that should be considered together to develop a generic scheduling framework to be used in a real manufacturing environment.authorsversionpublishe